The National Human Rights Commission of Korea concluded that writing down irrelevant criminal record in the notice for arrest sent to family of arrestee is violation of privacy guaranteed under Article 17 of Constitution.
The NHRCK concluded that criminal record, which is private information, should not be revealed to other persons for purposes that are not prescribed under legislation because it could lead to disadvantages.
Accordingly, the NHRCK made recommendation to Director of ○○ Regional Prosecutor's Office to spread the case to staffs dealing with tasks related to notification of arrest and to carry out education on related rules.
Mr. Kim, the complainant, filed a complaint to the NHRCK saying that after he was arrested, prosecutors and investigators of ○○ Regional Prosecutor's Office wrote down details of his criminal record in a notice of arrest sent to his family members and it led to family trouble as his wife found out his criminal record.
Investigation of the NHRCK showed that the respondents arrested the complainant for violation of the Act on the Control of Narcotics, etc in 2014 and sent a notice of arrest which included his criminal record to his family without asking him to decide recipient of the notice who did not appoint a lawyer yet.
The NHRCK concluded that arbitrarily deciding his family member as recipient without asking the complainant and sending a notice of arrest which includes criminal record violated privacy of the complainant despite the fact that Article 26.1 of the Rule on Cases and Works of Prosecution prescribes that a notice of arrest shall be sent to a person designated by suspect when he/she did not appoint a lawyer.
The NHRCK concluded that it is sufficient to describe only the fact of criminal conduct which caused arrest, not criminal record, because the reason for sending a notice of arrest to family members of the accused is to help them identify whereabouts of the accused and reason for arrest to enable immediate interview and communication and to exercise the right to defense including appointment of a lawyer.
The NHRCK previously recommended for rectification in a number of cases where the investigation authorities sent a notice of arrest with criminal record against the will of accused.
